On Thursday October 10th the Cornell Student Assembly made the momentous decision to “indefinitely postpone” consideration of Resolution 8: Calling for Divestment from War Weapons Manufacturers.
While on the surface, Resolution 8 is not directly related to the State of Israel, the document is a slightly altered, poorly edited version of Student Assembly Resolution 51 from February 2024, which called for “divest[ing] from Systemic Violence Against Civilians in Gaza” and called out the State of Israel 21 times while failing to mention any other country. The failed Resolution 51, while making it past the initial rounds of consideration, was defeated 16-4 in the Student Assembly. The consensus was clear.
The supporters of the newly packaged “Resolution 8” chose to add it to the Assembly agenda on the evening of the anniversary of the October 7th attack on Israel, the worst mass murder of Jews since the Holocaust. The vote was set one day before the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur, ensuring many Jewish students, including Student Assembly members, would be unable to attend the vote in-person (or potentially at all) due to their traveling to observe the holiday with family. This only serves to highlight the true meaning of Resolution 8: behind its falsely neutral language and apparent anti-violence sentiment, the main goal of the resolution is to use the Cornell University name and brand to demonize the State of Israel and its supporters.
Even with the shameless timing, the “new” Resolution’s sponsors failed to get it officially considered by the Assembly, a step backwards from their attempt in February 2024.
Even though I’m sure the Coalition for Mutual Liberation, Students for Justice in Palestine and other groups in support of the Boycott, Divest and Sanctions movement will continue to parade around campus, it appears as if the large majority of the Cornell community is ready to move on from the rabid antisemitism and anti-Israel sentiment that gripped our campus last year led by small groups of terrorist sympathizing students and faculty.
The postponing of this Resolution 8 before it was even officially voted on is another reminder to the Coalition of Mutual Liberation and related groups that their actions are far more performative than anything else.
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This is a win for pro-capitalism Cornellians. BDS campaigns against companies such as Boeing, L3Harris and Lockheed Martin only serve to hurt Cornell’s financial wellbeing. Divestment from these defense contractors, which Cornell never directly invests in, would negatively impact the ability of the school to pursue research, finance construction and pay competitive wages to campus workers. Ask yourself, is it worth it to achieve the political agendas of a loud, mildly disruptive, virtue-signaling subset of Cornellians, who at times are directly subsidized by “charities” that serve as fronts for groups designated as terrorists by the U.S. Government?
As war and carnage continue in the Middle East it becomes clearer that many who belong to or support BDS and CML associated groups care more about the downfall of Israel and America more than they support the rights of the Palestinians, Lebanese, or any other group they claim to be advocating for. Included in Resolution 8 is calls for divestment from Raytheon, a company critical in the development of Israel’s Iron Dome short-range missile defense system, a technology that’s sole purpose is to protect civilians from missiles fired into Israel from terrorists like Hamas, Hezbollah and other Iranian proxies that have been attacking U.S. bases abroad.
Condemnation of these defense manufacturers as a backhanded way to attack Israel is illogical. Those supporting these divestment measures seemingly believe that Israel and U.S. Forces in the Middle East should not have the ability to defend themselves from the barrage of drones, rockets and other armed projectiles fired at them from various terrorist organizations.
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The timing of this vote comes as the Brown Corporation voted on divestment from 10 companies that do business in Israel and Columbia University Apartheid Divest, (Columbia’s version of CML), is publishing statements such as “violence is the only path forward.” Cornell’s Student Assembly stands out as a beacon of a free-thinking, pro-democracy organization for shutting down Resolution 8 and standing up to the coordinated national attacks of BDS and connected groups meant to isolate and ostracize Zionists on college campuses.
The postponement of Resolution 8 also signals that the Cornell community is ready to move on from the BDS and CML shenanigans that have dominated the campus news cycle in both the national media and within this publication.
Noah Farb is a first year student in the College of Arts and Sciences. His fortnightly column Thinking Critically discusses politics and current events. He can be reached at nef36@cornell.edu.
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